Nov. 23, 2018Source:

SUZHOU, China—Nov. 21, 2018-- Today FAW Group, PlusAI , the Full Truck Alliance (FTA) and NVIDIA announced they are working together to accelerate the development and commercialization of autonomous trucks in China.

The companies will utilize the performance and capabilities of the NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Pegasus AI computing platform to operate an autonomous commercial trucking fleet. The collaboration will include the sharing of information and resources to develop autonomous driving truck technology based on sensor fusion and artificial intelligence. The companies aim to enable the production and deployment of autonomous heavy trucks and accelerate upgrades to China's long-haul transportation industry.

NVIDIA’s self-driving computing platform has been widely adopted by industry. The NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Pegasus AI supercomputer can process 320 trillion operations per second (TOPS), enabling full self-driving capabilities for driverless trucks. The platform is architected for safety, incorporating redundant and diverse self-driving functionalities, and it is designed for vehicle manufacturers to smoothly integrate a wide array of sensors and software applications.

As autonomous driving technology continues to develop, a robust ecosystem has started to evolve around it, connecting automakers, suppliers and startups. Yang Daqing, a researcher at Chinese Logistics Society, believes that the market for autonomous driving technology has huge potential for growth. To achieve the full potential, the development of the industry needs to focus on continuing to build the ecosystem.

FAW, NVIDIA, FTA and PlusAI plan to work together to strengthen the ecosystem around autonomous driving technology, vehicle computing platforms, vehicle production and applications in transportation operations.

FAW Group is the No. 1 heavy truck OEM in China, with annual production of more than 300,000 heavy trucks. They have been actively exploring the industrial application of leading-edge technologies to create more intelligent commercial vehicles.

“FAW has had a long and fruitful direct collaboration with NVIDIA, PlusAI, and FTA,” said Mrs. Guo Liqun, Chief Engineer at FAW. “We are very excited to formalize the partnership among the four market leaders to accelerate the commercialization of autonomous driving trucks, further solidifying J7 as the intelligent truck platform of choice in China.”

PlusAI is a leading self-driving technology company with world-class R&D capabilities. It has been testing its level 4 long-haul autonomous truck system in the US and China, and is in a unique position to utilize the NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Pegasus in large-scale commercial operations over the next several years.

“Heavy trucks and long-haul transportation pose a significant technical challenge and also provide a unique opportunity to the autonomous driving industry. With this alliance, PlusAI’s onboard deep learning based autonomous driving system can harness the enormous computing performance of NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Pegasus, power FAW’s next-generation L4 trucks, and meet the strong demand on FTA’s transportation platform,” said David Liu, CEO of PlusAI.

FTA operates the largest network for long-haul trucks and logistics companies in the world, providing services to more than 5 million trucks and 1 million logistics customers in China.

“Autonomous trucking fleets will be the main workhorse powering the transportation industry,” said Gang Wang, CEO of FTA. “The question is no longer ‘if’ but rather ‘when’ autonomous vehicles will drive onto our streets and highways. Building this alliance with the other three market leaders and innovators is one major step closer to commercializing self-driving technology and revolutionizing the logistics industry. Its impact will go far beyond the alliance’s current millions of trucks and logistics customers in China.”

“The NVIDIA DRIVE AGX platform delivers the massive computational horsepower needed for creating safer, more efficient transportation technologies for large-scale deployment of self-driving truck fleets,” said Rishi Dhall, vice president of automotive business development at NVIDIA. “The platform is essential technology for companies like PlusAI, FTA and FAW, which aim to modernize the long-haul transportation industry in China.”

This big move will significantly accelerate the modernization of the long-haul transportation industry in China. Each of the players in this collaboration are the market leaders in their respective industries. Together, the companies will form one of the largest cross-industry collaborations focused on large-scale commercial deployment of AI-powered, fully autonomous fleets, which will transform the transportation industry.